The Labor Market Effects of an Unexpected Amnesty for Undocumented Workers 1

This paper studies the labor market effects of regularization programs on amnestied migrants’ job competitors. Exploiting the 2002 unexpected Italian program, I find that the least productive job competitors experience a lower probability of being regularly employed in the very few months following the amnesty implementation. To explain the results, I develop a theoretical model showing that bundling strict application requirements and new penalties for hiring undocumented workers lowers the regular employment of amnestied workers’ job competitors